Star Wars Reveals Why Luke Wields the Force Differently to Darth Vader
Warning: spoilers ahead for Star Wars Adventures: Weapon of a Jedi #1!
IDW is adapting a Star Wars story that takes place between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, during which time Luke Skywalker learns to use the Force differently than Darth Vader. Coming from Alec Worley and Ruairi Coleman, the Star Wars Adventures: Weapon of a Jedi #1 comic is based on the 2015 novel The Weapon of a Jedi: A Luke Skywalker Adventure, written by Jason Fry.
Weapon of a Jedi's first issue keeps most of the original story intact as it follows a young Luke Skywalker, who keeps experiencing visions from the Force about some ancient ruins he's never visited before. He's forced to put his interest in the ruins on hold, however, when he receives a mission to intercept Imperial transmission logs. But when his Y-Wing fighter sustains heavy damage, the budding rebel fighter decides to seek repairs on Devaron, a jungle planet that he feels is connected to his dreams.
Upon his arrival, Luke soon learns of a place known as the Temple of Eedit, one of the Jedi temples, and immediately seeks guidance from the locals, eventually employing the aid of the only person brave enough to help - the sinister Sarco Plank. Unsurprisingly, Luke proves that the Eedit Temple is the same building from his dreams, and he amazes Sarco with his knowledge of the surrounding area, despite this being his first time on Devaron.
Sadly, the issue ends right as Luke is about to enter the temple, so comic readers will have to wait and see exactly what he'll learn there. But in Fry's The Weapon of a Jedi: A Luke Skywalker Adventure, Luke learns that the Force shouldn't be something he coerces and demands obedience from. Instead, he needs to form a symbiotic relationship with it, viewing the Force as an ally. Most importantly, Fry reveals that the first time Luke sees Obi-Wan Kenobi as a Force Ghost isn't during The Empire Strikes Back, but on Devaron, as Luke connects with the Living Force.
What Luke Skywalker's time in the temple teaches him greatly diverges from how Darth Vader wields the Force as a Sith Lord. The goal of the Sith is to absorb and manipulate the Force to transform themselves into something wholly new and all-powerful. Additionally, the entire existence of the Sith naturally rejects everything that the Living Force embodies. Becoming one with the Living Force requires users to let go of their physical self and to lose themselves within the vastness of the Force. But the Sith are obsessed with the power they accumulate during their lifetime - a power the Living Force strips from them - and therefore perpetually strive to stay as long as they can in the physical realm. While Vader later joins the Living Force, as made apparent by the end of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, it is only after Luke Skywalker saves him, allowing Darth Vader to let go and give himself freely to the Force.
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